How do you get good at getting the rest God said was good for you? How do you get good at leisure? We can, of course, nod in agreement to all we’ve discussed in the past couple days about how important it is to rest.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Worry
Give Yourself Permission
Since most humans suffer from a lack of balance in their lives, our best counsel on living a steady and stable life comes from God’s Word. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus, he includes this most unusual command:
Read MorePeace Amidst an Uncertain Future
If you live intimidated by people, then you need to come to terms with your lack of peace. God is bigger than any person. You don’t need to dread tomorrow. You don’t need to dread your uncontrollable circumstances. It’s a decision that’s called “a frame of mind,” otherwise known as leaning on the everlasting Rock. That’s what we’ve been learning from the life of Paul as we’ve considered Acts 19:21–31 in Parts One through Three.
Read MorePeace Amidst Unpleasant Circumstances
After Paul had been willing to stay at the task in Ephesus even with the dream of going to Rome on his heart (Acts 19:23), “about that time . . . ” That’s the way it happens. Just about the time you get out of your prayer closet and you’ve got it all worked out, everything breaks loose. Look at the rest of verse 23: There occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way [which was a first-century label for Christianity].
Read MoreTension in the Tank, Part Two
In the northeastern United States, codfish are not only delectable, they are a big commercial business. There’s a market for eastern cod all over, especially in sections farthest removed from the northeast coastline. But the public demand posed a problem to the shippers. At first they froze the cod, then shipped them elsewhere, but the freeze took away much of the flavor.
Read MoreThe Sting of the Thorn, Part Two
We’ve been talking about Jesus’s parable in Mark 4:1–20 about the farmer who sows seeds in four different types of soil. As I mentioned in Part One, I’m bothered by the third group because thorns come in and destroy the healthy growth of the Christian. It is interesting that the thorns were already present at the time the seed entered, and that the thorns were never completely out of the picture even though the seeds began to take root (Mark 4:7).
Read MoreTrust, Part Two
Each morning you awaken to an unpredictable set of hours filled with surprises and trials and anxieties. You know before your feet ever touch the floor you are in for another who-knows-what day. You could be in an accident on the freeway, fired from the job, the victim of a personal attack, mistreated, robbed, slandered, or threatened with a lawsuit. Sounds pretty bleak, but it’s true. Happens to hundreds like us daily.
Read MoreChoose Joy
Psalm 100 wastes no time with preliminaries. Rather than try to convince the reader to praise the Lord for His goodness and our many blessings, the composer issues three commands in the first two verses. The Commands. Shout joyfully to the LORD (100:1). This is quite a beginning! The Hebrew gets straight to the point. In fact, the term “joyfully” doesn’t appear in the Hebrew.
Read MoreAbundance without Gratitude
While we have experienced financial ups and downs in the last century—some of them significant—we nevertheless benefit from an unprecedented level of abundance. Never in human history have so many people lived in the kind of comfort and security we enjoy today. And American culture leads the world in luxury. Many families have a driveway full of cars, a house full of modern appliances—many dedicated to entertainment
Read MoreCease Striving
The psalmist’s inner battle with the grind of personal weakness, recorded in Psalm 46, ended with a truce. He arrived at a critical decision that required every ounce of faith he could muster. He decided to withdraw from battle. I Will Not Strive. The last four verses of his song (Psalm 46:8–11) are nothing short of magnificent.
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